Gleneagles Townhouse, the Edinburgh outpost of the celebrated Perthshire estate hotel, has completed a £3.5 million refurbishment of its ground-floor restaurant and bar spaces, with the redesigned rooms reopening this week ahead of the hotel's busiest trading period.
The works, carried out over eight weeks of planned closure this January and February, have transformed the dining room on St Andrew Square into what the hotel describes as a more dynamic and versatile space, capable of hosting both intimate dinners and the high-volume lunch and pre-theatre trade that peaks during August's Edinburgh Festival.
The redesign, led by Edinburgh-based interior practice Graven, retains the townhouse's characteristic combination of Scottish materials — Caithness flagstone, hand-stitched tweed panels, locally sourced timbers — while introducing more flexible seating configurations, a new private dining room seating 24, and a substantially enlarged bar.
Kitchen programme expansion
Alongside the physical changes, the hotel has announced an expanded culinary programme under head chef Aileen Miller, who joined from The Kitchin group in 2024. Miller will introduce a daily changing market menu in addition to the existing à la carte, with a commitment to sourcing at least 80 per cent of ingredients from Scottish producers.
A new Saturday breakfast experience, described as "a proper Scottish table," will launch in April, featuring a long-form service of porridge, smoked fish, haggis, fresh pastries and egg dishes. The hotel says it is positioning the Saturday morning slot as a standalone destination occasion rather than simply a functional hotel breakfast.
"We want people who live in Edinburgh to feel that this is their dining room as much as it is our guests'," Miller said. "The refurbishment has given us the space and the kitchen infrastructure to do things we simply couldn't do before."
Festival season strategy
With Edinburgh's August season now the most commercially significant hospitality period in Scotland — hotel room rates across the city regularly exceed those during Christmas — the Townhouse's timing is deliberate. The hotel has introduced a Festival Dining Package for the first time this year, combining accommodation, pre-show dining and a nightcap, aimed at reducing the operational complexity of last-minute bookings during peak weeks.
Revenue management director Clare Paton said occupancy during Festival 2025 had reached 97 per cent, with food and beverage revenue per room up 18 per cent year on year. "The refurbishment is an investment in sustaining that trajectory," she said. "Edinburgh guests during Festival are among the most engaged and food-curious audiences in the UK."
Bookings for the redesigned restaurant are open from today via the hotel's website.